


3.5

by spnstuck



Category: land of the lustrous, 宝石の国 - 市川春子 | Houseki no Kuni - Ichikawa Haruko
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, I did this so fast so theoretically at some point ill go back and fine tune it, Other, Winter, baby youre my ANGEELLLLLLLL, bort and diamond is there blink and youll miss it, everything is good and nothing hurts, oh me?? im fine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-18 20:35:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13108053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spnstuck/pseuds/spnstuck
Summary: There is a window of time where Antarcticite and Phos have the same hardness: 3.5





	3.5

“So if you were to guess what hardness you are now, what would you say?” Phos pushed a block of snow off of school’s main walkway, skidding a little on the ice.

Antarcticite didn’t look up from their own sweeping, answering in a monotone: “Three. Maybe three-and-a-half right now. That’s what you are, right?”

“Yup,” Phos said with a pout. “I don’t think it’s changed even with these.” They stomped one foot for emphasis, shaking off enough powder to expose the glittering agate underneath. They felt the slight reverberation snap through their body, splintering uncomfortably in their joints.

“Mmmmm,” Antarcticite replied.

“Can you feel your hardness change as it gets colder?”

“Not really.” Still not looking up. Phos didn’t know how they could stand so much silence.

“Then how do you know?”

“I ask Sensei. We can usually figure it out.”

“What about when Sensei’s napping?”

Antarcticite made an aggravated noise in their throat. “I wait until they wake up. There’s no gems to run into anyway, so I don’t really worry about it.”

“What about if we tested it now?” Phos heard the shuffling of their broom pause, and looked up to find Antarcticite staring back with wide eyes. Phos's inclusions crackled behind their cheeks in a way that wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

A lot of the gems liked to compare Dia to the sun. Energetic, sparkling, kind and giving, open and warm. If this was true, Antarcticite had to be the moon: a steady, lonely glow, quiet, constant, a brush of mystery and under that, danger. Phos had seen Antarcticite use that blade, swinging around the icebergs as they growled menacingly, leaping at Lunarians like they had nothing to lose, everything to protect. Phos supposed that was true.

“Tested it now?” They repeated.

“Y-yeah, like, you and I have never been able to touch other gems except for when we’re being really, really, careful, and if you’re going to get harder as it gets colder anyway…” Phos stammered, letting the sentence drop awkwardly into the snow.

There was a beat of silence. “No, I’m sorry, I’m dumb, that was weird to say-“

“No-“Antarcticite interrupted, “It’s okay. You’re right. I’m curious.”

Their inclusions hummed more than ever now ( _Antarc can_ _’t_ tell _, right?_ ). “Then let’s do it inside! Out of the snow! That way, if one of us does break, the shards won’t be so hard to find. We’re done out here anyway. I don’t know why this is a duty of yours anyway, it’s just going to snow over again.”

Abruptly the image of Morganite popped in their mind: “ _Don_ _’t you ever stop talking?_ _”_ Phos clamped their mouth shut.

A smile had crept up on Antarcticite’s face. Radiant in its rarity. They leaned their shovel against a pillar and clicked across the polished floor, waving one hand vaguely, which Phos took as a good sign to follow.

 

They stopped in one of the school’s interior rooms, a dusty chamber closer to a closet than anything else. “Now what?” Antarcticite asked once they had settled on the floor, facing each other with legs crossed.

“I don’t know. Let’s start small.”

“This was your idea.”

“I _know_ this was my idea! Let’s just-touch fingers first. See what happens.” Antarcticite raised one silver eyebrow but held out one hand, fingers splayed. Phos mirrored their movement, leaning forward slightly until their nails touched with a soft _clink._

Nothing happened.

“That was anticlimactic,” Antarcticite murmured, but another grin was pulling at the corners of their mouth. 

“Then here!” Phos shoved their hand forward, knocking into Antarcticite’s palm. “What about _this?_ _”_ They gritted their teeth as the shock bounced up their arm, but, miraculously, nothing cracked. They pulled their hand back, Antarcticite doing the same, but the powder hadn’t even been disturbed.

Two gems looked at each other as something between them sparked, smoked, and caught, a jellyfish-like sting that made Phos’s hair shimmer like it was the middle of summer. They lurched forward and crashed into Antarcticite, inclusions buzzing but not breaking, laughter spilling out of their chest, the sound of their skin coming together like bells in the emptiness of the room. Antarcticite pushed back with a “ _stop, Phos, stop_ ,” but their words were choked through shaky laughter.

“I can’t believe it doesn’t hurt! Antarc, what do we _do_ with this knowledge?!” Phos had Antarc nearly pinned to the ground, hands splayed by their head (close enough for thumbs to brush gleaming white hair), legs tangled together, chests nearly touching. Phos tilted their head, and their mint waves nearly fell into Antarcticite’s face.

“…Antarc?” Antarcticite said. Soft eyes, moonlike.

“Yeah,” Phos said, breathless.  “Like you call me Phos, I call you Antarc. It’s a nickname. Lots of gems have them. Like everyone calls Diamond ‘Dia’. Bortz and Dia are the same hardness, so they don’t have to worry so much about touching.”

“I…don’t know the other gems like that.” Soft, soft, everything soft.

“Can we try something else Bortz and Dia do?” Phos’s gaze roamed over Antarc’s face, settling on their lips.

Antarcticite hesitated. Phos felt their resolution begin to crack. Then Antarcticite sat up and their faces came together, lips touching with no fear of fracturing. Phos pushed back, deepening the kiss until the two were horizontal. Antarc’s hands framed Phos’s face, fingers pushing back strands of hair and swirling over cheeks, over eyelashes.

When they broke apart, Phos’s head was spinning like they’d slivered into a thousand pieces. Antarc sat all the way up, grinning in a way that made Phos want nothing more than to kiss again, kiss until Winter was over and the other gems found them that way. But instead, they curled their back against Antarc’s chest, hands twisting together.

“That was…wow. I see why Dia and Bortz do it so often,” Phos whispered. Antarc chuckled, laying their chin on Phos’s head. 

They stayed that way until Phos could feel themself slipping into unconsciousness, lack of sun and abundance of snow finally taking a toll. “Antarc, what’re we going to do when it gets colder and your hardness increases?”

A kiss to Phos’s cheek. “I suppose we’ll have to wait until next winter.”

 

 


End file.
